Herbaceous crops in Mediterranean dryland environments face a great challenge for survival in the scene of climate change. The intensification of water deficits and the most frequent high temperature events during the late spring (April‑June), coinciding with the grain filling stage of many species, leads to continuous yield losses. In the Experimental Farm La Higueruela (Toledo, Spain), located in a typical Mediterranean agricultural environment of the Spanish dry land, it is analyzed how different meteorological variables are affecting cereal, chickpea, sunflower and vetch crops under conventional and ecological management. For this purpose, two long-term experiments (27 years) have been carried out, conventional end ecological managements, in which four crop rotations have been tested: Barley‑Barley (CC), Barley‑Chickpea (C‑GAR), Barley -Sunflower (C‑GIR), Barley-Vetch forage (C‑VF).
The results indicated that the meteorological variables that have registered a greater increase over time during the trial period are the average annual temperature of the agricultural year and those corresponding to the summer months, with the precipitation recorded during the month of May, as well as the frost period, the variables that have suffered the highest decrease. The most negatively affected crops were chickpea and sunflower in both agricultural managements and barley in organic farming, while the forage vetch would be favored in these conditions, especially in ecological management, due to its cultivation period.

Lacasta C, Moreno MM, Moreno C, Meco R (2020). Efecto del cambio climático en cultivos herbáceos de secano. ITEA‑Información Técnica Económica Agraria 116(5): 380-395. https://doi.org/10.12706/itea.2020.037